The Mack is not simply a 'blaxploitation' movie. You can take it seriously as a drama and it works very well. It depicts a time and place honestly, even as it is still making drama out of this world of pimps and hookers and cops and violence and money. It's crude, but it has a kind of inherent integrity that's hard to explain.
Max Julien may break out into a grin or smile once too much, but he can, and does, carry this movie really well. He makes this entire thing become alive in a way that he is likable and charismatic, and yet carries a level of authority. You don't doubt for a second that he can become this Mega-Pimp.
The scummy police men are played so slimy they transcend typical trash and become epically trash-tastic (the worst white cops maybe in any 70's movie?), and Richard Pryor as the not-really-comic sidekick helps a good deal too.
Great music, real dramatic conflict, and DAMN do some people get f****d up here! Most weird but enjoyable scene for me (and maybe the closest it gets to being so OUT-there exploitation-y) is when Goldie is giving his "orientation" bit to the hookers in the planetarium. I want to watch that on a loop.
Max Julien may break out into a grin or smile once too much, but he can, and does, carry this movie really well. He makes this entire thing become alive in a way that he is likable and charismatic, and yet carries a level of authority. You don't doubt for a second that he can become this Mega-Pimp.
The scummy police men are played so slimy they transcend typical trash and become epically trash-tastic (the worst white cops maybe in any 70's movie?), and Richard Pryor as the not-really-comic sidekick helps a good deal too.
Great music, real dramatic conflict, and DAMN do some people get f****d up here! Most weird but enjoyable scene for me (and maybe the closest it gets to being so OUT-there exploitation-y) is when Goldie is giving his "orientation" bit to the hookers in the planetarium. I want to watch that on a loop.